Review: Yours Sincerely, VAULT Festival

Letter-writing never seemed so much fun as in the hugely likable Yours Sincerely at the VAULT Festival

“They say the art of letting-writing is dead”

Any show that references Céline Dion’s epic key change in ‘All By Myself’ is onto a winner, nevermind featuring a lip-sync there of. So I was always going to be well-inclined towards Will Jackson’s Yours Sincerely. But there’s something more here too, a generosity of spirit that makes it a show I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

When Will finds that he has accidentally nicked 300 2nd class stamps from the Post Office, his instinctive response is to revive the lost art of letter-writing. So he pens missives to old flatmates, ex-boyfriends, childhood crushes, family members, customer service departments…no one is safe. And he reads us those letters, and their responses, a picture of a young man at a crucial point in his life emerges.

Yours Sincerely is at its best when it is at its lightest. Pretending to be a 9-year-old boy called Sam to get chocolate buttons off Cadburys, reconnecting with the fit violinist from band and finding inventive uses for Luigi costumes, battling NHS regulations, there’s so much fun in watching Will on the make, and the insights we thus get into his character as a recent graduate who is struggling to find his path.

Lip-sync interludes add to this ebullient spirit and Jackson is the kind of warm-hearted performer that can pull them off effortlessly. A late swerve into darker territory doesn’t quite sit as well as it imposes a narrative bent that is scarcely needed and dilutes just a little of the focus. It’s only a small niggle though in what is otherwise a hugely enjoyable show.

Running time: 1 hour (without interval)Yours Sincerely is booking at the VAULT Festival until 3rd February